Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Equipment determines tactics, and tactics influence strategy."

When Gu Yanwu saw the last sentence which was obviously newly added, he almost laughed out loud.

Because he knew that after the Korean War, the idea that "tactics determine victory" was popular among the military staff.

Even the General Staff shouted this slogan to elevate the status of combat staff.

This made the generals in the army very dissatisfied, and they believed that some staff officers with a scholarly background wanted to seize power.

Finally, under the emperor's mediation, six words were added in front of this sentence, which are "strategy determines tactics."

Together, they form the twelve words "Strategy determines tactics, tactics determine victory", which became the slogan of the General Staff.

The phrase "equipment determines tactics" from the Equipment Department is obviously a reference to "tactics determine victory". It means that equipment improvement brings about tactical innovation, and the main credit goes to the equipment department.

The last sentence, "Tactics influence strategy", was obviously added after the slogan of the General Staff Department was changed. It means that no matter how good the strategy and tactics of your equipment department are, they will be influenced and determined by the equipment.

It can be said that these two sentences are completely a tit-for-tat between two departments.

Gu Yanwu, who guessed the reason, found it very interesting. But he was also thinking about why the Equipment Department dared to shout out this slogan:
"The biggest highlight of the Korean battlefield was sniping and ambush operations."

"Its appearance is inseparable from equipment such as sniper rifles."

"Especially the breech-loading rifled musket with an effective range of 400 meters, which can be loaded while lying on the ground, is very suitable for ambush operations."

"No wonder the imperial court decided to equip this new type of musket and put the self-priming muzzle-loading musket in a secondary position."

"All these changes are due to tactics!"

The breech-loading rifled musket led to the emergence of ambush tactics.

At the same time, this tactic promoted the equipment of breech-loading muskets.

This made Gu Yanwu feel very interesting, and he no longer felt angry about the breech-loading musket that required refilling of gunpowder.

Compared with tactical needs, his own discomfort is nothing.

The imperial court would rather bear the high cost and equip itself with breech-loading muskets.

Gu Yanwu even compared them in his mind and felt that even a breech-loading rifled musket at thirty taels was cheaper than the cost of cavalry. In mountain warfare, rifled musketeers could easily kill cavalry and horses.

Therefore, the imperial court could fully afford to treat rifled musketeers as a special elite force.

As for the soldiers responsible for defending the city and the troops in the rear, they were equipped with cheap muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets.

The self-propelled flintlock musket, which he helped to invent, is still used by the army.

Gu Yanwu, who understood all this, calmed down and decided to work hard to adapt to the use of reverse priming powder and strive to become a good rifleman.

However, after entering the equipment department, he saw the dazzling array of weapons inside and immediately put this idea aside.

Pointing to a pair of simple-looking small pistols with a price tag of five yuan next to them, Gu Yanwu said:

"what is this?"

"Does the Equipment Department sell hand cannons to the public?"

An officer from the Equipment Department came over and explained to him:

"These are hand cannons issued to cavalrymen. You can buy a pair for just five taels of silver."

"Are you interested, Gu Yuanshi? You are eligible to buy it."

As long as there is no record of illegal activities, anyone with a status of Gongshi or above can basically apply for the right to bear arms and be allowed to purchase muskets that meet the restrictions.

Gu Yanwu was not only a Yuanshi, but also a major of the guard. Of course, he could buy a musket.

The equipment official knew Gu Yanwu and asked him:

"Does Gu Yuanshi want to buy it?"

"We can get you a weapons license right now, and we'll also have someone to train you."

This is a new department that officials from the Ministry of Equipment attempted to set up after the Equipment Academy was ordered to study the weapons and quantities that civilians are allowed to own.

They planned to leave the management of civilian equipment to the Equipment Department, giving the Equipment Department the power to intervene in local affairs.

So after making a trial list, they couldn't wait to take out the weapons on the list that were allowed to be sold and put them directly on sale at the Equipment Department.

Announce to other government offices that this function belongs to the Equipment Department, so that those who want to purchase weapons can come and buy them.

The Ministry of War was very dissatisfied with this. They believed that weapons held by civilians were forces that could be mobilized and should be under the jurisdiction of the Mobilization Office of the Military Service Department.

The two ministries are now quarreling in the Privy Council, fighting for this area of ​​authority -

After the establishment of the six ministries of the Privy Council, the internal institutions were still being perfected, and some departments were fighting for some unclear powers and responsibilities or overlapping areas. In particular, the Ministry of War, which also belonged to the Executive Yuan, and the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of the Interior, which only belonged to the Privy Council, had the most intense disputes.

Gu Yanwu didn't care about this. What he saw now was that the Equipment Department could issue weapons licenses and sell weapons. This made him very happy.
"Take them out. I want to try them out."

The officials of the Equipment Department happily arranged a clerk to bring Gu Yanwu to the side for a trial use.

However, because the Equipment Department's office is right next to the Daming Gate, firing muskets is not allowed here.

If you want to really fire the gun, you need to go to the training ground.

Gu Yanwu was a little disappointed, but he was already satisfied to be able to touch it.

Having been in the army for a year, he knew how to use this pistol after just a simulated test.

These two cheapest muzzle-loading flintlock muskets are equipped with gun cases that can be worn on the waist for shooting. Whether riding a horse or walking, they can be easily taken out and fired by hand.

However, what made him dissatisfied was that this kind of musket still needed to be primed with gunpowder, which made him ask the clerk next to him:

"Is there no need to pour the primer?"

"Why don't you use a gravity-priming system on your pistols?"

The clerk smiled and said:

"There are muzzle-loading muskets that use a self-priming system, but they are not suitable for cavalry use."

"After pouring gunpowder into the hand cannon, the cavalry may spill the gunpowder from the ignition hole when running."

"So they just wrapped the bullets in paper, just like the soldiers who used muskets. They used paper to contain the gunpowder to prevent it from spilling. When they needed to fire, they used the primer bottle to poke it open."

After holding the hand cannon and demonstrating it for a while, Gu Yanwu finally understood. This kind of hand cannon can put paper bullets in it in advance, and when it is time to fire, use the pointed mouth of the primer bottle to poke open the paper bag and pour in the primer at the same time.

Then you can put the flintlock in place and fire it by hand.

It did not require the cavalry to reload bullets with a cleaning rod when they suddenly encountered the enemy, making it a very convenient weapon. The two hand guns formed a pair, allowing them to quickly fire two bullets at the enemy. No matter how brave a person was, he could die if he was shot.

This was the experience Cao Bianjiao gained from fighting the Jianlu cavalry in Korea. At that time, they used spring-wheeled hand cannons to cause great damage to the Jianlu cavalry.

Moreover, this tactic was improved after the General Staff organized a drill. That is, after the cavalry in the front had used up the ammunition in the hand gun, they immediately went around to the rear to reload. In theory, after being divided into several teams, they could take turns shooting and completely eliminate the enemy with muskets.

Therefore, the elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty are now equipped with hand cannons. And the equipment department is also selling the hand cannons they use to the outside world.

Soldiers who can spare can buy as many as they can carry.

This is another typical example of how equipment changes tactics. Thinking about the battle with the Khorchin cavalry, Gu Yanwu felt that if the Ming cavalry were really equipped with this kind of musket, they would have a great advantage in close combat.

Even ordinary soldiers can use this kind of musket to protect themselves, and can use it to attack enemies who are good at close combat. Even very thin soldiers can shoot and kill brave enemy generals.

For him, who used to be a scholar, this was even more suitable. Although he had been granted a revolver by the emperor, he did not like the kind of weapon that required a revolver. He planned to buy a few hand guns that were more suitable for him and carry them with him for self-defense at all times.

This cheapest muzzle-loading musket could not satisfy his appetite, so Gu Yanwu continued to ask:
"Are there any other pistols?"

"It's more convenient to reload."

The clerk said:

"Have!"

"This is a breech-loading pistol. It can be loaded with paper bullets without a cleaning rod."

"But it's also more expensive. One needs ten taels of silver."

Looking at this hand cannon that resembled a breech-loading rifled musket, Gu Yanwu shook his head and did not like it.

Because the rotary locking mechanism it uses is too long, it looks out of proportion on a pistol and should be called a short gun.

The clerk obviously knew this, and he pointed at another pistol and said:

"This hand cannon is also rear-loading, but its breech block is a vertical wedge type, similar to the breech block of a cannon."

"It is not equipped with metal bullets like the electric gun. It uses paper bullets directly. You just need to clean up the remaining paper scraps regularly."

This hand cannon was based on the electric gun, but it did not have a sub-gun. Its cost was also very low, only five taels of silver, much lower than a hand cannon that used a rotating gun mechanism.

But the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the vertical wedge gun mechanism is not as good as the rotary gun mechanism. It is OK for short-range firearms such as hand guns, but it is not suitable for long-range firearms.

(The Sharps rifle's falling bolt can be regarded as a vertical wedge type, except that it is from bottom to top, which is called a falling type.

The neutral wedge breech block in the book is from top to bottom, which is an improvement on the breech block in Chapter 447. Its airtightness is not as good as that of the Sharps rifle, which was initially troubled by the airtight ring.)

The Equipment Research Institute once planned to use this locking mechanism to reduce the cost of breech-loading muskets, but eventually found that it would greatly reduce the range and power of breech-loading rifled muskets.

Therefore, they chose to use a rotary gun mechanism and tried to improve the receiver structure and manufacturing methods according to the emperor's suggestions in order to reduce costs.

Gu Yanwu was very fond of this type of hand cannon, especially when he discovered that the switch under the vertical wedge-shaped gun action could cut off the tail of the paper-wrapped bullet, so that the shooter no longer had to poke open the paper-wrapped bullet through the primer hole.

This was a great convenience for him, so he asked the clerk with shining eyes:
"Is there a long musket with this structure?"

"It has a longer range."

The clerk shook his head and said that there was none here, but the Equipment Research Institute might have it because they had tested it.

Gu Yanwu, who didn't want to poke the primer hole, immediately planned to go to the Equipment Institute. He wanted to look at several types of muskets, preferably ones that could be loaded from behind and save the step of pouring the primer.

The weapons of the Equipment Research Institute should be given to the new army for trial use. As a rising star in the new army, Gu Yanwu's request was quickly approved by the officials of the Equipment Department.

However, the personnel of the Equipment Research Institute told him with regret that, except for the self-flowing priming system he invented, other methods could not avoid the back-priming of gunpowder.

Lu Xiang, who personally received Gu Yanwu, also advised him:
"In fact, it's not bad to use special primers. You can use the finest and most conveniently ignited gunpowder. This way, the ignition rate of the flintlock musket will be higher."

"Until fulminate of mercury is invented, breech-loading muskets will inevitably require primer."

This is also what he regrets. He believes that if the breech-loading musket can also avoid the step of pouring the primer, the actual combat capability will be stronger. It will not be defeated by the self-flowing primer muzzle-loading musket when selecting the model.

He also experimented with a self-flowing priming system on a breech-loading musket, adding a firing pin to the gun mechanism to poke open the paper-wrapped bullet and then shake the priming powder out of the priming hole.

But in the end, it was found to be too troublesome and the manufacturing cost would be higher. In the end, the choice was to equip soldiers with special ignition powder bottles and sharp nozzles to poke open paper bullets.

This thing has been improved now. After opening the primer bottle, you can use the bottle mouth inside to poke open the paper bullet and pour out the primer at the same time.

The two steps of poking the paper bag bullet and pouring the primer are beginning to merge into one and become coherent.

This is due to the improvement of propellant, which uses finer propellant powder that can be poured from a narrower bottle mouth.

Also, because Lu Xiang referred to the ignition hole of the gravity-priming system, he also enlarged the ignition hole of the breech-loading musket, making it easier to poke the bottle mouth in.

Gu Yanwu looked at this newly improved ignition hole and felt that it was the funnel-shaped ignition hole of the gravity-flowing priming system, which was moved from inside the gun barrel to outside.

In this way, the pointed mouth of the ignition powder bottle can slide into the funnel. Compared with the previous method of aiming at a small hole to poke the ignition hole, it is naturally more convenient.

This is more convenient for him with poor eyesight. He said to Lu Xiang happily:
“This is a good improvement!”

"Even I can see it clearly!"

I thought I could adapt to pouring the primer from this primer hole.

When Lu Xiang heard Gu Yanwu's praise, a smile appeared on his face.

In fact, the reason why he improved the ignition hole in this way was because of Gu Yanwu.

When the breech-loading musket he developed was defeated by the self-priming muzzle-loading musket, Lu Xiang was very dissatisfied.

Even though he later turned the situation around by using rifled gun barrels and round-nose bullets at the emperor's suggestion, he still remembered this incident.

After carefully studying the self-priming muzzle-loading musket, he tried his best to apply the advantages of this musket to the breech-loading musket.

The funnel-shaped ignition hole is an improvement, which makes it easier for people with poor eyesight to poke the ignition hole and pour the ignition powder.

Now that he had received Gu Yanwu's praise, he finally felt that he had breathed a sigh of relief.

But no matter what, this also requires pouring the primer. Not only did Gu Yanwu think this step was cumbersome, but the personnel of the Equipment Research Institute also felt that this step was an obstacle to increasing the rate of fire.

In addition, the primers of the bullets and the fuses of the artillery shells were all stuck because there was a lack of fulminate of mercury.

This made the craftsmen in the Equipment Research Institute urgently need the birth of fulminate of mercury to be used in these weapons.

Gu Yanwu also became interested after hearing that the Equipment Academy was researching fulminate of mercury that could ignite on impact.

Led by Lu Xiang, he visited the Gunpowder Research Institute. (End of this chapter)